Disclaimer: I don't own nobody of the characters, they are the property of JK Rowling
A/N: Thank you to all the reviewers, your support means a lot for me! I want to thank also my wonderful beta, Petunia.
Chapter Six
"Start of the term"
They went to have dinner in the Great Hall. Harry sat between Hermione and Dumbledore. On the other side of Hermione sat Professor McGonagall.
"Maybe it would be good if tomorrow we suspend your training, Harry. You two haven't spend a day together, this summer. Surely you would like some time together tomorrow." said the Headmaster.
"Thanks, Professor!" Harry replied. Hermione looked at McGonagall, who nodded discreetly.
After dinner, they went to the common room. Here, they started chatting. The day had been very hard for both of them and they were exhausted so Harry fell asleep on the couch where they sat. Hermione lingered for a little looking at him and smiling. She had always loved looking at him while he was sleeping, but now, his face seemed so content that she couldn't help but kiss him on the cheek, before going to bed.
Next morning, she went down to have breakfast and found him still sleeping on the couch. She smiled and went to wake him up. Soon as she was near him, he grabbed her and started to tickle her, making her laugh and they both fell onto the couch.
"I missed her so much this summer…" Harry thought when they finally went to have breakfast.
Dumbledore, noticing the happiness in their eyes, smiled, thinking: "I'm glad they are happy with the company of the other. This will be an hard year, for both of them, and they need each other to go through this…"
The day passed quickly, for them. They went for a walk around the lake and then Hermione convinced him to study a little, until lunch. In the afternoon they chatted happily in the common room.
"Mione…you know I've been training to be a mage. But what have you done, this summer?" Harry asked
"I went for a long tour of Europe with my parents", Hermione lied, unable to look him in the eye.
Harry felt that she was lying but decided to not push the subject, so he pretended to believe her.
"I wonder why she is lying. After all I'm her best friend, she can trust me…" he thought. There was no time to think about it anymore though, as they had to go and meet Ron and the others at the station.
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Ron was a little jealous to see them together, but decided to not give up his hope.
"First or later he'll start to ignore her - he'll cut off himself from everyone. This will be my chance. The man I met yesterday, offered his help - if I accept to do what he asked me. Hermy, you will be mine, in one way or in another."
The start of term banquet passed smoothly. The sorting was completed and they ate happily. Afterwards they returned in the common room and one by one the students began to go to bed.
Another year at Hogwarts had begun.
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After breakfast the next morning, they had the first lesson of the term - Transfiguration. Professor McGonagall introduced them to the human transfiguration, with a long explanation which made Ron fall asleep on his desk. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"How can a 16 years old boy be so stupid? I wonder what he would have done in his life without us." She turned and looked lovingly at Harry.
"Harry is so different…yes, he is a little lazy, but when the moment of really doing his duty comes, he never fails."
Next they had Charms, where Professor Flitwick taught them an advanced version of the Conjuring spell; as usual, Seamus managed to burn himself, while Neville wasn't able to conjure the requested book. Instead he transformed his quill in a sheet of paper.
Ron didn't have much more luck - he conjured only some pages in a bad looking cover.
Harry and Hermione, instead, conjured the book "Hogwarts: A History" without problems, at the first attempt. Then they looked each other and smiled.
Ron was furious, not with Hermione, but with Harry. He had never been equal to Hermione at school before, they would tease him forever for not being as good as them. And their looks to each other were so obvious!
That night, Harry and Hermione both went for their training, although Hermione made sure Harry didn't find out where she was going. After two hours, he returned to the common room and found her innocently reading by the fire. He was very tired after that night's training. Dumbledore had made him modify all the curses, even the "Avada Kedavra", that the Headmaster cast on some mice. That exercise was the most draining.
Hermione, instead, had worked on modifying the Cruciatus for the first time. It had taken her the whole lesson to learn. She also felt tired, but she had waited up for him.
They told each other "Good Night" and again Harry felt the urge to kiss her, but resisted. She, however, kissed him on the cheek.
Harry entered his dorm, and noticed Ron was not in his bed but he felt too tired to go and look for him.
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The next few days were similar. They had their first Potions class in that year and Snape asked them to prepare an Invisibility Potion, one of the strongest. It was also the most difficult. Harry worked hard, but Snape still criticized him the whole lesson. Ron, behind him, was smirking, and thinking: "So, Perfect Potter is not so perfect. He still can't do Potions."
However, at the end of the lesson, Harry brought his work to be marked. Snape was astonished. The potion was very well done - not perfect, but nobody could be perfect, not even Hermione. He was forced to give him a high mark. Ron's smirk disappeared. Harry had beaten him at that, too.
"It is not possible! He could not be so good in everything! And I wonder why he still doesn't try to isolate himself. Luckily, that guy had said he will help me…"
After Potions, Ron and Harry had Divination, while Hermione went off to Arithmancy.
Their lesson passed without event. Sybil Trewlaney had taken back her place as Divination teacher, and now she continued her foolish predictions of Harry's death.
The days passed calmly, between lessons and night training, but Harry noticed that every night Ron wasn't in his bed. He started to wonder where he was going.
"He will tell me when he's ready…" he thought, getting into bed, after another hard training night. At least, he was beginning to regain trust in Dumbledore, one thing he never thought possible after their fight in the Dursleys living room.